This is a continuation of my set of stories that starts with Miss Scarlet and The Disappearance of Clara Wilson, Miss Scarlet in the Library with the Candlestick, Miss Scarlet and the Band of Thieves, and Miss Scarlet and the Case of Megan Heyday.

Whilst you don't have to have read these to enjoy this one, I do refer back to events and original characters that appeared within these stories. If you want to skip ahead I'd recommend reading the last chapter of Megan Heyday first, purely to enjoy Eliza and William's date night.. Plus I'm sure you'll enjoy the development of Eliza and William's relationship.

Miss Scarlet and The Tailor of Spitalfields

Part 1

It was pitch black out as Miss Eliza Scarlet travelled across London in the back of the Hackney carriage as it rocked over the cobbled streets with a young cohort next to her. Occasionally a glow from a passing streetlamp would cast into the carriage, giving her a chance to look over the boy once more.

She'd returned home from an evening at the Bedford Music Hall only twenty minutes earlier with William 'The Duke' Wellington, her close friend Detective Inspector at Scotland Yard. It had been a wonderful evening of good food, laughter, and music. Then he'd left her house in a carriage after he'd broken the etiquette of their friendship and given her a slow, perfect kiss that had sent shivers down her spine.

She had gone inside her house with the widest smile only to meet Ivy, her housekeeper, in the hallway, waiting for her to share some details of her evening. Just as she was about to retell the event when there was a knock at her front door; she had momentarily hoped that it might have been William, changing his mind about a nightcap or perhaps looking for a less-than-chaise repeat performance of their kiss.

Only she'd opened the door to find a young boy, who could almost have doubled for a younger version of her Jamaican associate Moses, standing breathlessly from running on her doorstep instead. The young boy, whom she now knew was called Jonah, told her that he'd been sent by Moses himself, and she was needed most urgently. She'd rushed out the door with barely a backwards glance to a concerned Ivy and her evening with William a fading memory.

Whilst Jonah couldn't explain exactly why Moses had sent for her, she had managed to get Jonah to tell where he had come from, which meant they could get a carriage back rather than walking or running as he had arrived. This was preferable, given she was still in her beautiful deep blue A-line evening dress and shoes instead of her usual comfortable day boots and day suit.

Jonah was a young lad and sat on the bench opposite her, grinning with a twinkle in his eye like she was some sort of pudding to eat.

"May I say, Miss, you look very lovely…. If I were ten years older, hey…"

He gave her a cheeky wink and a nudge with his foot, and Eliza was slightly taken aback by this forward boy. She shook his thought away as she chuckled while she looked out the window to see where they were going.

She thought she had a fair idea of the route they were taking since she was certain Moses must be around the Tavern for which he usually ran security, but not according to Jonah. Instead, they were heading out towards Soho, to a slightly less than desirable area of Holborn.

As the carriage weaved through the dark streets, she couldn't quite fathom what would have caused Moses to call on her so urgently or bring her out here so late at night. It wasn't appropriate for her to be out so late and alone, not that it usually bothered her, but Johan was hardly protection for the late hour.

Eventually, the carriage pulled up to a stop, and Jonah instantly jumped out and headed down a darkened ally in between two houses while Eliza politely asked the carriage driver to wait for her. Eliza wasn't usually one to have fears, but as she looked down the dark ally, she had a momentary slip of concern. She didn't know who Jonah was or what Moses' would be doing out there, and she was suddenly concerned that she was walking straight into a trap without anyone knowing where she was.

The last time that had happened, she'd been stuck in the abandoned Woolwich prison for hours till William had somehow managed to find her. While he'd never really told her how he had found her back then, if something happened now, she suspected William would have much harder luck finding her since she didn't know where she was.

Still, if it was Moses who had sent for her, then she believed he would absolutely have a good reason to do so. Eliza took a deep breath, bit down her fear, and walked down the alleyway.

It was a long, thin passageway, and there were red brick houses or crumbling grey stone walls on either side that gave way to wooden fences and bushes that brushed against the lace covering her arms. The light was so dim that she couldn't make out where she was stepping along the uneven ground and Jonah had run so fast ahead of her, she couldn't see him either. Still, she kept going further down the alley until she got to a crossroad in the fences.

Straight ahead was a further dark alleyway; to the left was even darker, and to the right, a far way down, was a hint of a streetlight, and in the distance around her, she could make out a rumbling of the sound of voices. If only she could make out which direction the sound was coming from.

"Jonah." She called out just above a whisper but to no reply.

She didn't know which way he'd gone. Did she head towards what appeared to be gas lamps on a main road? Or further down towards the darkness?

After a moment's pause, she edged her way forward, choosing to keep going straight towards the darkness ahead of her. She followed the path in front, leading further into the thickness of the night.

"Miss Scarlet…"

Eliza jumped sky-high at the sound of her name and just about stopped herself from screaming as Moses rolled her name in his familiar deep Jamaican accent from right behind her ear.

"Jesus!"

She turned around and thumped him as hard as she could in the chest with her fist, her heart still pounding like a drum as she let out a steady breath to regain her composure.

"Make a noise, why don't you!" she told him firmly and slightly angrily.

"This way," Moses chuckled before returning to his serious demeanour leading her to where he needed her to go.

Eliza followed Moses closely towards the darkness of another alleyway. She noticed he would look over his shoulder, making sure she was close behind him, but he did not attempt to explain himself. Soon the lights of the main street were ahead of them, nearing the end of the alley, but before she reached it, she looked around Moses' form and saw Jonah crouched on the floor, leaning over what looked like a dead body.

"Oi! You leave him." Moses warned the lad seriously, making the boy jump backwards as he uncomfortably shifted his flat cap.

As soon as Jonah moved, Eliza saw the person he was standing over, and she quickly rushed past Moses to check on her friend.

"Rupert," Eliza said, kneeling on the cold, hard ground next to him.

Mr Rupert Parker was a close friend from high society who had once tried and failed to propose to her, and instead, they had agreed on a business investment in her detective agency. What on earth had happened to him, so wondered with concern.

Moses was briefly distracted as he looked at Jonah, who was fidgeting with excitement as to what was going on. He quickly passed him a coin before nodding his head, silently telling the boy to scram. Without any argument, Jonah took the coin and his orders and headed off to the main street, looking for some people to charm or pockets to pick.

Rupert was sat on the ground, practically passed out, his back leaning against a wall and his head propped up. His usual perfectly styled, curled brown hair was all out of place, and his eyes were shut as if he was sleeping. Eliza put her hand on his chest to check he was breathing.

"What happened?" She asked Moses hurriedly.

She looked Rupert over, quickly checking him for any visual injuries, but she didn't instantly see any out of place, but he did smell remarkably strongly of alcohol, and Eliza winced. Memories of her father flooded her mind of the times she'd found him passed out from drink near a tavern, or someone had returned him home ill, and she'd nursed him with worry, but she pushed them away as best she could.

"I don't know, I was working down the way, and one of the lads found him like this and alerted me. They didn't know I would recognise him. I checked his wallet and pocket watch, they are still on him, so it doesn't look like a robbery."

"Rupert, can you hear me?" Eliza asked, her voice full of concern. She didn't know what Moses meant by working, the places she knew that he ran security for weren't down this end of town, but she had more important things to worry about.

She put her hands on Rupert's face and tapped his cheek gently to try to get him to look at her, but his eyelids only opened fractionally, and his eyes rolled, unable to focus. She had no idea why Rupert Parker would be in such a state. As Moses had suggested, it didn't look like a robbery; after all, his olive-green suit was still fully intact, aside from a little staining from being sat on the dirty floor. His hat was on the floor next to him, and even his expensive maroon leather gloves were still in his pocket; both items were easy enough for someone to sell and make a few pennies.

"I didn't know what to do when I got to him, so I thought I best get you," Moses told her seriously.

"You did the right thing, Moses." She assured him. "Rupert…" she tried again, as she tapped his cheek rather more firmly, then ran her hands over the back of his head, checking for any blood in case he had been knocked unconscious, but there was nothing. There were no signs he'd been in a fight, to cuts or bruises to his face or knuckles. If she didn't know better, she would have thought Rupert Parker was just excessively drunk or under the influence of a drug of some sort.

"mm mm… E…li….za…" He mumbled semi-incoherently.

Eliza's mind was working a mile a minute as she tried to figure out what Rupert was even doing in such a disreputable area of Holborn, let alone how he had ended up drunk and slumped in a dark alleyway. Her next thought was to question what she should do with him.

Should she try and take him home? Or perhaps to a doctor? Not that she knew who Rupert's family doctor was, and of course, what would his mother, Mrs Parker, say should she hear of Rupert being in such a state. She'd likely find some way to blame Eliza.

Without much thought as to how it would look, she decided to bring him to her home, where she could watch over him for the remainder of the night. Thankfully, he appeared unharmed, but she was still concerned that perhaps there were injuries she couldn't see.

"Can you help me get him to my carriage Moses?" Eliza asked, and Moses nodded.

"Are you sure you want to move him?" Moses questioned.

"Well, I can't just leave him here. I'll take him back to mine. He can sleep this off in my father's room," she replied firmly. Her mind was fully made up.

Moses raised his eyes at her. It wasn't appropriate for her to have Rupert stay with her, even just in her father's bedroom, but she didn't seem concerned about the implication, so who was he to argue with her?

He crouched down one side of Rupert, and Eliza took the other, wrapping Rupert's arm around her neck. They made their way unsteadily back down the dark alleyways to the carriage Eliza had asked to wait for her. It wasn't easy since the passages were narrow, and it was a struggle to fit the three of them. Plus, Rupert was still rather passed out and unable to walk, so they had to lift him slightly, and his feet dragged a little underneath him.

Once they got there, Moses helped her lay Rupert on the bench of the carriage before stepping back out of her way. He looked over her outfit and realised she must have been somewhere nice, given how she looked.

"You had plans this evening?" Moses asked, waving his hand and motioning to her dress.

"It's fine. My evening had just finished when your young man arrived."

She gave him questioning eyes as to who exactly the lad was, but Moses wasn't about to answer any of her questions, any more than she did his questions about her evening.

"You get home safely, Miss," he told her firmly.

"Thank you, Moses," she told him with a nod. She knew better than to ask too many questions of her friend before getting into the carriage, and Moses shut the door behind her and motioned to the driver to move on.

Eliza sat on the bench with Rupert, and she rested his head on her lap while she held his hand tightly. She was gravely worried about her dear friend and the events of his evening that had led to where he ended up, but he was in no state to be questioned.

The journey to her home seemed to take an eternity as Rupert moaned and groaned in his stupor with the rocking of the carriage. By the time they arrived, Rupert at least seemed a little more with it, though he was still struggling to stand and unable to talk.

Ivy had been so worried she had taken to baking in the kitchen while she awaited Eliza's return. So, she was still awake and able to help bring Rupert stumbling inside the house and up to Henry's bedroom. As they laid him down on the bed, Eliza thought about asking Ivy for some coffee to sober him up, but then she decided it would be better to leave him to sleep.

Ivy gave her a concerned look, and Eliza just shrugged and shook her head because she had nothing to tell her. She sent Ivy off to get some sleep while she took a blanket from her bedroom, pulled up a chair and sat down next to the bed.

She'd put her father to bed drunk enough times to know to keep an eye on Rupert while he slept, just in case he was ill in his sleep. Despite the disturbing reminder, she felt strangely comforted remembering her father as she watched her friend in a restless sleep and listened to him softly snoring.

While she tried to settle herself in the uncomfortable chair, she took a few moments to think of how her evening had taken a very strange turn. She touched her lips, thinking of the kiss William had given her in the carriage. She smiled, thinking of the ease of their conversation over dinner, his eyes sparkling as they arrived at the Music Hall and their hand-holding in the darkness of the theatre. If she had any questions about his possible intentions, their evening together and certainly that kiss should have answered them, yet somehow, she couldn't help asking more.

What exactly was William's plan now? Were they courting? Did she want them to be? If they were, then what did that mean for her business prospects, and what would people think?

She in no way wanted it to seem as if William was letting her assist him with cases because they were in some sort of romantic relationship, or worse, that she was giving him certain favours in return for working on his cases. She certainly wasn't about to stop her work because of it, either. Besides, she couldn't afford to do that even if she wanted to.

She also didn't have any kind of experience when it came to these things. She'd been so young when her mother passed that she only vaguely remembered what her parent's relationship was like, and she didn't have any close friends other than Ivy to talk about these things. Even then, she wasn't sure how comfortable she felt discussing her relationship with Ivy since she had a slightly different view of the world than Eliza. She would likely expect a marriage proposal within weeks if she knew that they had become closer.

She'd certainly never mentioned their kiss when they were children to Ivy, nor had she told her about their impromptu kiss in the tavern when William was working with the Banyan family. How would Ivy react should she tell her that William had kissed her last night? Perhaps she could downplay it as a chaise good evening kiss?

However, with the smile that appeared even now as she thought about it, she knew there was no way that Ivy wouldn't see straight through her. William's kiss in the carriage was intentional. It was a statement of hope that he wanted more than friendship between them. The question was, did she want that?

She'd be lying if she said a relationship with William had never crossed her mind; it was always a distant possibility from the way he looked at her sometimes. Yet, where that relationship would lead went against almost everything she wanted from life when she was just starting to enjoy her life as a detective and the freedom of not answering to her father. Did she want to enter into a relationship and answer to William?

Troubled, Eliza rubbed her face with both her hands and released a heavy sigh of tiredness. Blinking, she stared at Rupert, wondering exactly what had happened to create his turn of events tonight. She couldn't help but wonder about the high she had felt during her evening with William that had flipped so fast to the low she now felt watching her dear friend Rupert. As her eyes grew heavy, visions of a possible future with William danced through her mind.

To be Continued...